Highlighting the Importance of the Pyrolysis Step on Dust Explosions

Olivier Dufaud (1) , Imad Khalili (1) , Nicolas Cuervo (1) , Roberto Olcese (1) , Anthony Dufour (1) , Laurent Perrin (1) , André Laurent (1)

1 LRGP - Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés

In order to highlight the influence of the pyrolysis step in organic dusts explosions, experiments have been carried out on wheat starch powders and on their pyrolysis gases. Starch pyrolysis has been studied and a representative composition of the pyrolysis gases has been used for explosion tests. Both the particle size distribution and the presence of few percents of pyrolysis gases, as low as 1 %v., induces changes in the rate-limiting step of the combustion reaction, which implies a significant decrease of the minimum ignition energy (MIE) and an explosivity increase. Moreover, the influences of pyrolysis gases are effective both on the combustion kinetics, but also on the flame hydrodynamics. A model based on the flash pyrolysis of organic compounds has been developed and validated by using gas chromatography.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Génie des procédés

Olivier Dufaud, Imad Khalili, Nicolas Cuervo, Roberto Olcese, Anthony Dufour, et al.. Highlighting the Importance of the Pyrolysis Step on Dust Explosions. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 2012, 26, pp.369-374. ⟨10.3303/CET1226062⟩. ⟨hal-01684585⟩